Dear all,
I am brand new to keeping orchids (as in I just received my first two plants last Thursday in the mail). They are two Phal hybrids, described on the grower's website as "blooming to near blooming" size. They came in 3" green pots in bark. I live in Boston, and the plants are in an eastern window, on a humidity tray, with a fan for air circulation. I check the moisture in the bark with a wooden chopstick to see whether or not I should water, and had only watered once thus far (last Sat.). I used Brita filtered water. I mixed fertilizer using Ray's calculator to 125 ppm N and will use that with each watering, planning to flush the pots once each month.
Although everything seemed to be fine above the bark, after reading this board as well as First Rays' site extensively over the past week or so, I decided it would be wise to repot the plants, so that I could see what was going on with the root systems. So I ordered some bark, "chunky seedling mix," from the same vendor, and it arrived yesterday. I brought some water to a boil last night, threw some bark in there, and let it soak overnight. This morning I drained it and sprinkled a bit of cinnamon in, and mixed it all up.
Well, I just finished re-potting, and the roots were... not great. The bark had disintegrated in the bottom half of the pot and the poor things were suffocating. I cleaned off the old bark, cut away the rotten roots, and put alcohol and cinnamon on the "wounds."
On one plant there are three relatively new-growth, healthy, thick green roots that are about 2-3 inches long, and one questionable one that was still firm and thick but brown (possibly staining from the bark?), so I left it on.
The other plant only has one healthy root, again, a new growth root, which is about an inch and a half in length. It also has a brand new root growing; it was just a tiny nub last week when I received the plant, but is now about a half an inch long.
After the surgery, I re-potted them in the same pots with the new bark. Perhaps the plant with only one root would benefit from "sphag 'n bag," but I don't have any sphag at the moment, so I am stuck with the bark for now.
Since all of the roots left on these plants are relatively short, they are pretty close to the surface of the pots. I understand that humidity, warmth, and shaded light are important after a re-pot, so to keep the healthy roots from drying out and encourage growth, should I mist the surface bark when I see it drying out? Should I maintain the roots at a green color, or wait to mist until they turn silvery grey-green? Should I leave the fan off to prevent over-drying? Any suggestions are welcome.
Pics of the plants after re-potting are attached. Thanks!
keeping surface roots moist after repot in bark
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